


The Lady of Lake Ronkonkoma

by glim



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, New York, Team Gluttony, othon extra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-16
Updated: 2011-07-16
Packaged: 2017-10-21 10:48:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"See there?" Freya stretches out one arm and points across the lake. "They say it's bottomless."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lady of Lake Ronkonkoma

_i._

She takes a bus to the city in September, her books and clothes stuffed into a suitcase and backpack. Nobody on the bus talks to her; one man leers at her like he might swallow her whole.

She glares back; she knows that even though parts of her look small and frayed, parts of her look sharp and dangerous.

The late summer heat shimmers off the asphalt and reminds her of the endless, fluid way sunlight skips over water.

The city's completely different from the lake, though, she finds out soon enough. The streams of traffic and people have a heaviness, a loudness, a kind of crushing closeness that she can feel on her skin and in her lungs.

Her first night in New York City, Freya sits on the steps to her dormitory building and wonders how many of the people she sees live in cages of their own construction.

 _ii._

"Good morning."

Untangling her eyelashes and pushing past the piles of worn blankets on the bed, Freya smiles to wake up to the brush of Merlin's nose against hers. He's already dressed, clad in various layers of blue and red and brown, two sweaters and a pair of cords he got at the thrift shop before Christmas, a hat he's had since November, a scarf from sometime before they met in October.

"You have class already?"

"Yeah, Buddhism seminar. Come to lunch?"

She nods and kisses him, then holds onto him a few seconds longer than she needs to before he gets up off the bed. Once he's gone, Freya stretches and buries her face in Merlin's pillow for her last five minutes in bed before she has work and class, too.

Merlin's apartment is cold and quiet when she leaves to walk through the snow back to her room.

 _iii._

Freya likes the springtime best when the world explodes into green life around her. Even the city can't resist the freshness of the spring morning, decking itself out in drizzle and half-hidden sunshine.

Merlin opens a window in his apartment to let in the cool, damp air and settles back against the pillows. His chest is bare and still winter-pale and his hair a rumpled mess from sleep. He smiles at Freya when she crawls up his body, kissing his collarbones and shoulders and the soft, dark hair at the center of his chest.

"Should I get breakfast first?" he asks, then giggles when she finds a ticklish spot to the left of his belly-button. There's soft, dark hair there, too, and Freya strokes it until Merlin twists away and laughs some more.

"Not yet... later on, okay?" Freya's damp between her thighs already, just from watching Merlin struggle against the urge to keep laughing and twisting.

"Okay, oh god... yeah, yeah, I'll... Ah!" He gasps and draws her closer, then arches up against her body when Freya reaches down to slip her hand to his cock.

He wakes up half-hard most mornings, nudging his cock up against her thigh or ass, but this morning he's good and hard and ready. So eager and so sweet, with the way he touches her breasts and strokes her hair while she straddles him, unrolls the condom down on to him, and keeps on stroking her the whole time. Freya rides him slowly, rolling her hips until she comes, and goes faster and harder until Merlin does.

While she's showering, Merlin leaves for breakfast and comes back with coffee and blueberry muffins, with out of season strawberries, and with the proudest, most pleased smile on his face.

 _iv._

"See there?" Freya stretches out one arm and points across the lake. "They say it's bottomless."

"Hmm." Drowsy and warm with afternoon napping, Merlin nestles his head against her shoulder.

"And that the lady of the lake takes lovers as her due sacrifice. One couple a year."

Merlin hums again, sleepily, and wraps his arms around her waist. The summer evening is chilly by the lake and they're both curled up under the old afghan they brought. In about a half hour, the sunset will trail like fire over the water. "Do you believe that?"

"Sure," she says. "Why not? It's like magic."


End file.
